The Vatican on Thursday urged the international community to find a negotiated solution to the crisis over Iran's nuclear research programme .
The call, which came on the heels a diplomatic bid by Italy to get talks with Tehran under way, underlined the Vatican's readiness to put its diplomatic machine to work on the Iranian nuclear issue .
"The Holy See is firmly convinced that the current difficuties can and must be resolved through diplomatic channels," Monsignor Pietro Parolin said during a meeting of the International Atomic Energy Agency in Vienna .
"It is also necessary to eliminate all the elements which objectively hinder reciprocal trust," he added, in a speech which echoed Pope Benedict's call last Easter for "serious and fair" talks between Iran and Western nations .
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is ready to enter negotiations on his country's nuclear research programme, according to Italian Premier Romano Prodi who met him in New York on Monday .
Prodi, who was the first EU government head to meet Ahmedinjad, said their talks on the margins of the UN General assembly were "positive but preliminary" .
He said they ended "without any step ahead but with very clear ideas on the need to take a step forward in the discussions" .
During the talks, Ahmadinejad insisted on not only on Iran's right to go ahead with its nuclear programme but also on its leading role in the Middle East. Prodi, addressing the nuclear question, said there needed to be a "halt to the military aspect of the research". Ahmadinejad has rejected demands by the United Nations' Security Council that it suspend uranium enrichment. He insists that Iran is enriching uranium to fuel planned nuclear power generators .
Summing up his talks later, Prodi made it clear there had been no breakthrough on this point: "Opinions were very clear and precise. I did not hear either a yes or a no," he said .
During a speech to the UN General Assembly earlier on Monday, Prodi said Italy was ready to "give its contribution towards a negotiated solution which can promote security and stability in the Mideast". Prodi has said repeatedly that diplomacy and not force is the only way to resolve Iran's nuclear standoff with the West. The United States, China, Britain, France, Russia and Germany agreed at a meeting on Tuesday to give European negotiator Javier Solana more time to try to reach a diplomatic solution with Tehran .
But they made it clear they want results by October .
